Remarks on Cocksfoot. 93 



now propose to take each forage plant separately, and 

 offer some remarks as to its quality and general merits. 



Cocksfoot grass (Bactylis glomerata) calls for little 

 remark, as, to use the woi-ds of Mr. Faunce de Laune, 

 " it is by far the most valuable of all grasses, because 

 it grows on all soils, it produces the greatest amount 

 of keep, it is the most nutritious grass ; it also seems 

 to grow faster and stronger in extremes of weather, 

 either wet or dry, than any other grass." Taking 

 into consideration its productiveness, it is the cheapest 

 grass that can be grown for land that is to lie in 

 grass for four or more years, for though timothy seed 

 to start with is cheaper than cocksfoot the productive- 

 ness of the latter grass in the course of about three 

 years pays for the extra cost of its seed. It is certainly 

 the most valuable for temporary pasture, and Sinclair 

 says that, "for alternate husbandry, it appears to 

 have a greater variety of merits for this purpose than 

 almost any other grass. It soon arrives at maturity, 

 it bears cropping well, is very productive, and its 

 nutritive powers are considerable. It is much less 

 impoverishing to the soil than ryegrass, and when 

 ploughed it affords a greater quantity of vegetable 

 matter to the soil. It has been objected to cocksfoot 

 that it rises in tufts, and is apt to become coarse. 

 But this objection will apply to every grass that is 

 not sown sufficiently thick to occupy with plants 

 every spot of ground, and that is not sufficiently 

 stocked to keep the surface in a succession of young 

 leaves. It is the practice of thin sowing, and the strong 

 appearance of the plant, that occasion it to appear 

 a hassocky grass." And he subsequently expresses 

 the opinion that Dactylis glomerata, from its more 

 numerous merits as compared with other grasses, should 

 constitute three parts of a mixture of grasses adapted 

 for the purpose of alternate husbandry. I have now 

 a ten-year-old permanent pasture as fine as a lawn, 

 and a mass of cocksfoot grass, but then I used 16 lb. 



